The absolute, crushing blackness of the uncharted trench stretched endlessly before us. It was a sensory deprivation chamber on a planetary scale, a pristine void utterly devoid of the bioluminescent arrogance that defined the upper empires. We stood together on the highest balcony of the Sunken Throne, perfectly insulated within the flawless, invisible sphere of my rewritten reality. The heavy, dead weight of the deepest ocean pressed against my spatial fold, utterly incapable of breaching the warmth of the localised terrestrial atmosphere I had woven around us.
"It has been a very long time since I allowed myself to simply watch the water."
Krave whispered, her voice barely carrying over the gentle, artificial circulation of air within my barrier.
"The water has not changed. Your perspective of it has."
I replied smoothly, keeping my right hand resting lightly against the centre of her back.
